John Carlin's World Cup Blog: a Spanish rhapsody

'Nothing personal, Bastian; we were just so much better than you.'

‘Are you Arsenal in disguise?’ might have been a not entirely unfair question to ask Spain in the early stages of the World Cup.

Lots of pretty build up, but not much in the way of follow-through. Defeat against that famous warrior race, the Swiss, did not encourage the notion that the bookies, who made them pre-tournament favourites, had got it right.

The answer is now in. Spain are not Arsenal in disguise; they are Barcelona in disguise.

And not a very thin disguise at that, given that seven of their starters in the semi-final against the seemingly invincible Germans play for the club that plays the best football in the world.

The differences between Arsenal and Spain/Barça are:

• they have better players in practically every position (the one doubt is Cesc Fábregas, the Arsenal captain, who, infuriatingly, the coach does not start )
• they have more players of strong character and experience
• they have David Villa up front

There are those in England, I have noticed trawling the web, who are not impressed by the Spanish way of playing. ‘Too much flim-flam in midfield,’ they moan. ‘Where’s the beef?’ they cry.

Well, apart from the fact that England fans would be in rhapsodies, rubbing their eyes in disbelief,  if their team were capable of sustaining just one of the passing movements we saw from Spain 20 times against Germany, they did also beat the Germans, who happened to crush England and Argentina.

Obliteration

Actually, Spain did not just beat the Germans; they obliterated them. The admirable Schweinsteiger and co did not get a look in.

Generously, but also entirely correctly, the German coach, Joachim Loew, said after the game that Spain were ‘wonderful’, ‘the best team in the world’ and that he fancied them strongly to beat Holland in the final.

The Dutch coach, Bert van Marwijk, said after his team beat Uruguay in the semi-finals that the problem with previous Holland teams, the reason why they failed to win the World Cup final in 1974, for example, was complacency.